… issues notice of mass protest
A rights group, Empowerment for Unemployed youths Initiatives (EUYI) has explained why it has been persistent in calling for change in leadership of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately act on its claims to salvage the organisation.
Recall that the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative (EUYI) led a Coalition of Civil Society Groups for National Interest on a sanitary mission in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) had recently demanded for sack of the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sunny Echono.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday , the duo of Comrade Danesi Momoh and Igwe Ude-Umanta; National Coordinator and National Secretary of EUYI respectively expressed their determination to make their demands known and responded to, since their previous attempts did not reach Mr President whom they believe is poised to revamp the educational sector.
“It’s obvious that our previous efforts and correspondence on the sad reality in TETFund did not reach the President whom we believe is a staunch anti-corruption crusader. With this sad reality, we are determined to use every legal means within our disposal to ensure that Mr President, the National Assembly, the Ministry of education and indeed all stakeholders are fully aware of the rot in TETFund.
“We had earlier written to Mr. President through the Secretary to Government of the Federation, requesting for the immediate sack of Arc. Sunny Echono. In that letter, we warned that the consequence of a slight hesitation, delay or refusal to sack him will be greeted with a mass protest, which was supposed to commence since Wednesday, July 10, 2024. The mass protest was however shelved following calls from well-meaning Nigerians for us to give Mr. President a little time to understudy our demands and act.
“We must make it very clear that we have acted so far with all patriotic consideration, and it will equally become unpatriotic if we allow public officers entrusted with very sensitive national assignments to mess the institutions and get away. We therefore wish to use this medium to reassure our allies that there is no compromise whatsoever and the retreat is merely to enable us exhaust all other avenues for redress. If Arc Echono is not sacked forthwith, what happened in Kenya will be a child’s play”, the speakers threatened.
The rights group accused Echono of turning TETFund into his personal fiefdom where he merely settles some powerful interests and carries on with contract racketeering, breach of procurement laws, advancement of mediocrity and sundry diversion of funds under many guises and phony programmes.
“TETFund which acts as the highest bridge to infrastructural and human capacity development deficit in the tertiary Institutions is in an unending crisis, caused by an alleged massive, pervasive and endemic corruption as well as undue politicization of its activities and programs. While the Executive Secretary has been trying to evade accountability, he has had running battles with anti-graft agencies which validate our position and the need for Mr President to immediately sack him”, the text added.
EUYi bemoaned the inability of the National Assembly to indict the TETFund boss over glaring cases of abuse of the Procurement Act, 2007 and wondered why the highest law making body will choose to side with fraud and its perpetrators.
“Even in the clear case of the opaque award of ₦7.6 billion contract to Fides Et Ratio Academy and Pole Global Marketing (PGM) which was done without recourse to the Bureau of Public Procurement or the Federal Executive Council, nothing has been done to get rid of him. Whatever the motive for the inaction of even lawmakers, it is our patriotic duty to act and we shall continue to apply pressure until the right thing is done”, the group insisted.
While updating its mass protest notice, EUYI equally accused Arc. Sunny Echono of illegal deduction of 50% of 2023 direct disbursement budget to institutions with claims that it was a consensus agreement, adding that in like manner, the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo has become another avenue for self enrichment for the embattled TETFund boss.
“Arc Sunny Echono is a threat to our tertiary institutions. With what is happening in the Federal University of Health Sciences Oturkpo, it is imperative for him to go if the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President in the education sector is to be taken seriously. Failure to act within two weeks after this press conference, we shall have no choice but to occupy TETFund and the National Assembly in a mother of all protests”, the text concluded.
